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Switch ports for Persona 5, Metroid Prime, and A Link to the Past may be coming

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A couple of Nintendo classics and a modern Japanese RPG hit may be headed to the Nintendo Switch in the near future. Best Buy’s internal system looks to have leaked the existence of the Metroid Prime Trilogy, Persona 5, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for Nintendo Switch.

Best Buy’s leaks initially started making the rounds when an Imgur user posted them. Eventually, popular leaker Wario64 caught wind and had multiple employees verify the existence of these three SKUs (stock keeping unit) in Best Buy’s internal system. He also published screenshots that were different than the ones previously shared, at the least confirming that multiple employees are seeing these products in the system.

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There’s a teaser website for Persona 5 S live right now and it wouldn’t be farfetched to think that “S” stands for the Switch version of the game. The site says that more information will arrive on April 25. The full remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening for Nintendo Switch was revealed in February and, soon after, a notable leaker shared that another 2D Zelda game would be coming to the Nintendo eShop this year. Nintendo Life shared that the source has been inconsistent in the past, but this new leak of a Switch version of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past adds a bit more credence to the person’s claims. The third leak in this bunch comes as more of a major surprise.

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Things have been very quiet for the Metroid Prime series and the last update on Metroid Prime 4, shared in January, sadly confirmed that Nintendo wasn’t happy with the game’s development up until that point. In the video update, a Nintendo executive explained that development was essentially starting over completely. The good news, though, is that the game’s producer, Kensuke Tanabe, is working with Retro Studios, the team responsible for the original trilogy, to get things back on track. Bringing a remastered version of the Metroid Prime Trilogy, which last appeared on the Wii, to the Switch would be a way to salve the wounds of those fans hurt by the realization that Metroid Prime 4 is very far from being a finished project. Nintendo did say it was preparing at least one unannounced title for 2019 that would release after April and that “fans would be delighted to know.”

The SKUs for Persona 5, Metroid Prime Trilogy, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past have all been removed from the Best Buy internal system and Nintendo is notorious for not commenting on rumors and leaks, but antennas will surely go up if the company announces an April Nintendo Direct.

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Charles Singletary Jr.
Charles Singletary Jr.
I'm a Birmingham, AL raised author, journalist, and gaming enthusiast currently residing in San Antonio, TX. My work has…
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Even with so much of the first-person adventure game is branded into my brain, there’s one aspect that I can always recall with particular clarity: its soundtrack. Metroid Prime’s original soundtrack is one of the brightest highlights in a game full of them, offering players a host of atmospheric sci-fi tracks to scan and blast to. Each composition is bursting with personality, from its X-Files-like opening theme to the almost West Coast hip-hop synths of Chozo Ruins.

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After countless rumors and years of disappointment as those leaks failed to materialize, Metroid Prime Remastered is finally a reality. Though its existence may not have come at a shock at this point, Nintendo’s surprise shadow launch of it following this week’s Direct showcase certainly caught fans off guard. Shortly after the presentation wrapped up, I was unexpectedly revisiting my favorite video game of all time with all of its creative glory intact.

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Don’t expect Zelda’s $70 price to become the new Switch standard, says Nintendo
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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will be Nintendo's first Switch game to be priced at $70. News that Tears of the Kingdom, a sequel to one of the bestselling and most critically acclaimed titles on the system, will have an increased price compared to its predecessor came as a surprise over three-and-a-half years after its announcement. It also raised questions about what the future of pricing for Nintendo games will be, especially as Sony, Microsoft, and third-party publishers all upped the cost of their new games in recent years. 
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"No," the spokesperson said when Digital Trends asked if this is a new standard. "We determine the suggested retail price for any Nintendo product on a case-by-case basis." 
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To get more insight into the price shift, I spoke to Omdia Principal Analyst George Jijiashvili, who explains what has caused the price of games to go up in recent years and how Tears of the Kingdom demonstrates that Nintendo will "remain flexible about first-party title pricing." Ultimately, Nintendo fans are finally starting to feel the impact of inflation that's been sweeping across the game industry, even if it's only "on a case-by-case basis" for now.
The price is right
Nintendo claims that not every one of its significant first-party game will be $70, and we can actually already see that in action. Preorders just went live for Pikmin 4, which launches on July 21, after Tears of the Kingdom, and it only costs $60. Still, Zelda's price tag indicates that going forward, Nintendo will at least consider raising the price of its most anticipated games to $70. But why start with Tears of the Kingdom?  
When asked why it chose Tears of the Kingdom as its first $70 Nintendo Switch game, a Nintendo spokesperson simply reiterated that the company will "determine the suggested retail price for any Nintendo product on a case-by-case basis." Still, it's a surprising choice for Nintendo to make that pricing change to just one exclusive game almost six years into the Switch's life span. Jijiashvili thinks the choice to do this with Tears of the Kingdom was a pretty apparent one for Nintendo, although it won't apply to everything going forward.
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Jijiashvili provided us with a graphic created by Omdia that "shows what the typical price points for each generation would look like if you adjusted for inflation." As you can see, the inflation-adjusted prices are only exponentially growing, and the big game pricing shifts the graph highlights were all technically not even enough to keep up with inflation when they happened. 

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